scent

Of the five senses, our sense of smell is the most linked with our memory. Our sense of taste is largely aided by the aromas of the food we eat. This is why realtors tell you to make sure you bake some bread before showing your house; the memories associated with fresh-baked bread will bring back fond memories for prospective buyers. This is also why we still use Grandma’s famous recipe. The aromatic scent of the food we eat has a profound power to “take us back” and bring to mind old memories.

The Passover meal of the Old Testament was intended to be a meal which brought memories with it. Memories of God’s deliverance from Egypt. When Jesus gave new meaning to that old feast, He instructed His disciples to eat this meal “in remembrance of me.” This meal is intended to call to mind the greater Moses, delivering true Israel, from the Egyptian bondage of our own sin. 

God is not opposed to making use of our physical senses in order to speak to us. We Protestants are accustomed to placing emphasize on the hearing of the Word. However, we shouldn’t forget that God also speaks to us through the aroma of Christ which we taste in this meal. He condescends to use these humble elements to spark our memory and call to mind the bread of His body which was broken for your sin, and the wine of His blood which was shed for the remission of your guilt. God not only commands us to remember Christ in this meal, He helps us remember Christ by this meal.

And it should be noted that remembrance, in Scripture, is not for the sake of have emotional warm fuzzies. Rather, we remember old mercies in order to look forward to new mercies.